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Media's old guard and new establishment, along with power brokers, fame-seekers and disrupters collide in our latest glossy magazine (and in person at a Daniel soirée). The Weekender has the best selections. — Erik Hayden
Ticker: Anthony Kiedis' payday; Michele Mulroney's détente; Karl Urban's box office test; Blake Lively's next move; Shawn Levy's sci-fi kick.
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The N.Y. Issue
A note from Hollywood Reporter Editor-in-Chief Maer Roshan:
"There was a time, not too long ago, when assembling a list of New York’s most prominent media personalities was a relatively painless task. The grand institutions of American media were concentrated within a 20-block radius of midtown Manhattan — home to the major networks, newspapers and glossy magazines that dominated American culture and politics. On a typical day at Michael’s, you might spot Barbara Walters, Gay Talese, Diane Sawyer, Mort Zuckerman, Carl Bernstein, Liz Smith and Nora Ephron. Scribble down everyone in your eyeline, and the media list was half done.
Those days are over. Today’s media elites are scattered across platforms that barely existed a decade ago — Substack, YouTube, TikTok — and in this splintered ecosystem, influence is harder to define and easier to manufacture. Compiling a New York power list takes weeks of deep research, anonymous sourcing and a few tense conference-room debates. What qualifies as media power in 2026? Who qualifies as a media personality? What even qualifies as media? THR’s New York issue — our first since 2022, when the pandemic shuttered both the issue and the annual celebration — reflects the best of both worlds." Didn't get a print copy? Subscribe!
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Not Going Quietly
Yes, that's Stephen Colbert giving the finger to a Trump building during THR's photo shoot for his cover story. As The Late Show nears its final bow, the host opens up about the cancellation that shocked the industry, the win of going out as a "martyr" and his next act in Middle-earth. "Jay called me right away, and he was lovely," says Colbert, as he slips into a Leno impression while recalling getting the job in 2015: "He goes, ‘Yeah, you got the pope job. You got the job ’til you’re dead.’ Well, you were wrong on that one, Jay." Lacey Rose's interview.
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The Power List
For "The 50 Most Powerful People in New York Media" editors considered myriad variables and data in determining who made this year’s list: ratings, readership, listeners, revenue generated, acquisitions, stories broken, social followers, deals, awards, subscriber counts, spending power and leadership among them. Most importantly, they have to reside in the tri-state area. (Apologies to Tucker Carlson, who opts to spend his time in Maine.) The full list, edited by Mikey O'Connell.
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The Young Guns
Condé Nast made clear its plans for the future over the past year, entrusting three of its influential legacy brands to the next-gen trio of Adam Baidawi ( GQ), Mark Guiducci ( Vanity Fair) and Chloe Malle ( Vogue). They assumed editorial control of their respective titles and inherited a combined print circulation above 3 million subscribers and a slate of vital events including Men of the Year, the Met Gala and that Oscar afterparty. No pressure! From the Power List.
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Free Fall
As cost cuts roil the networks, A-list news anchors (and their agents) across CNN, MS NOW, CBS, NBC and ABC are mulling ways to go indie to make up for slashed salaries — a move that's not only risky but expensive. “Everyone is obsessed with their brand now,” is how one TV news veteran explains it. Alex Weprin's report.
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Cult of A24
Now that the world’s edgiest indie studio is a full-on hospitality brand — including NYC’s hottest restaurant, hippest theater and wildest merch drops — one writer dares to spend a full day keeping up with the cool kids. "Every night, in-the-know culturati line up to try their luck for rush tickets or for a barstool at Wild Cherry. I was one of them." Julian Sancton's report.
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Healing Scars
Their weaponized wit made enemies, minted stars and helped define the internet as we know it. A decade after Peter Thiel engineered the site’s spectacular collapse, Nick Denton’s Gawker diaspora is still shaping media — and haunted by what happened. Frank DiGiacomo's report.
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They Said It
"Audiences need transparent, fact-based, nonpartisan journalism." — Shane Smith, in reviving Vice News with a brand deal while in Morocco.
"The maddening, creativity-killing lag between the moment a writer shakes hands on an assignment and the moment a deal is actually closed marks a structural failure." — Brillstein manager George Heller.
"When I hear people talk about, 'Oh, the stars of the future are going to be influencers,' I go, 'I don’t know what world you’re living in.'" — Robert Downey Jr., adding, "I think that that is absolute horseshit."
"The Commission’s actions threaten to upend decades of settled law and practice and chill critical protected speech." — Disney's legal team, in a filing opposing the FCC's moves against ABC's The View.
"When people don’t know what’s happening behind the scenes, they tend to assume the worst." — Charlotte Barker, director of film preservation at Paramount Pictures.
"Our relationship is intact and it's positive." — Hudson Pacific CEO Victor Coleman, asked about Netflix aiming to buy Radford Studio Center and potentially moving its L.A. HQ from Sunset Studios.
Logline of the Week
"Oscar Isaac will play Robert Redman, aka Bobby Red, president of the hottest hotel-casino in Sin City. The drama will follow the long-odds moves he makes to secure and expand his position in Las Vegas." — An untitled Netflix series from Billions creators Brian Koppelman and David Levien with Martin Scorsese among exec producers.
By the Numbers
(Most-read stories on THR.com this week)
1.) "The Odyssey: Everybody Using American Accents Is Definitely a Choice"
2.) "The Stephen Colbert Exit Interview: 'I Did Not Expect It to End This Way'"
3.) "Lauren Sánchez Walks the Met Gala Carpet Without Jeff Bezos Amid Backlash"
899M
Nielsen’s latest recorded week was a big one for R-rated superhero shows on Prime Video. The final season of The Boys returned to the streaming charts in second place overall, and the animated Invincible followed the previous week’s series high with another solid performance in minutes-viewed.
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Moonves Landing
Sara Moonves’ trick for resurrecting near-dead glossy W magazine — A-list allies, analog ambition, extravagant style, and a sexy cameo from Brad Pitt. The daughter of Les Moonves seems to recognize that her very insider upbringing is why she's so effective at a job that requires an ease in being around celebrities. Jada Yuan's profile.
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Ezra's World
As Ezra Klein's star rises, personal scrutiny has come with it. Among his colleagues, the mild-mannered Brooklyn dad of two has in recent years become the unlikely subject of gossip. "People talk just as much about his personal life as they do about his editorial content," one Times staffer says. Klein is aware of the chatter. "I've heard like a million rumors around me that aren't true, that really had traction," he admits. Aaron Gell's profile.
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Murdoch's Invaders
For Ian Mohr and the other California Post reporters fielding calls and chasing leads, there are some hopeful signs for the future — the new paper is indeed starting to make a little noise after it launched in L.A. in print. "To the extent that the industry has noticed the Post," one high-level entertainment executive says, "it’s mostly as a nuisance and an annoyance." Benjamin Svetkey's report.
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Post Warrior
For more than two decades, Keith Kelly was the feared-and-revered media reporter of the New York Post. Now, at 71, he's three years into a decidedly different gig: editing a group of scrappy, hyperlocal Big Apple weeklies owned by Straus Media. "It is not as different or as difficult as one might think," he says of the transition. Gary Baum's profile.
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Party Diary
Gayle King, Stephen Colbert, Carson Daly, Ari Melber, Roxane Gay, Sean Evans, Billy Eichner, Rita Wilson, Tony Dokoupil and Katy Tur were among those who gathered at Daniel in Manhattan for THR's Most Powerful People in New York Media party on May 7. Plus: Chef Daniel Boulud, who DJ'd! Elsewhere at the event, Dan Abrams and Van Jones were deep in conversation with MS NOW president Rebecca Kutler. Hot Ones’ Sean Evans was there, as was Meadowlark podcaster Pablo S. Torre. Other guests included Vanity Fair’s Mark Guiducci, who attended with his partner, Shawn McCreesh, of the New York Times’ White House team, part of a Times contingent that included Marc Lacey and Carolyn Ryan; Then there's Semafor’s Ben Smith; Fox News' Jessica Tarlov; Instagram’s Eva Chen; Hannah Bronfman; CNN’s Abby Phillip; Evan Ross Katz; W Magazine’s Sara Moonves and Lynn Hirschberg; The Daily’s Rachel Abrams; WSJ. Magazine’s Sarah Ball, HBO exec producer Michael J. Fuchs and Sex and the City columnist Candace Bushnell. Full story + photos.
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The Bottom Line
Snapshots from THR's team of critics:Sally Field toplines Netflix's Remarkably Bright Creatures, "a poor octopus movie but a charming human one." James Cameron's Billie Eilish concert doc Hit Me Hard and Soft "will make you believe you’re there." Karl Urban's turn in Warner Bros.' actioner Mortal Kombat II is "not a flawless victory." Paul Bettany and Will Sharpe tackle Amadeus in Starz' historical drama that's "a thrilling symphony of genius and jealousy." Ozark creator Bill Dubuque's Miami-set revenge thriller M.I.A. has a "promising start and end, dull in the middle." BritBox’s Pride & Prejudice spinoff The Other Bennet Sister is "grounded yet enchanting." Jack Thorne and Marc Munden's Lord of the Flies adaptation for Netflix is "very close to a definitive adaptation." And finally,
"Looking for cheaper, grass-roots marketing methods, studios turn to the Internet — and Blogs"
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